Saturday, April 30, 2016

From time to time, I will take a quick look at the stats on this blog as shown Google Analytics. This morning, I wanted to see the traffic information for the month of April.

This month, the blog has had visitors from 49 different countries. The photo to the left shows the top 20 visiting countries. To me, the biggest surprise on that list is Russia placing 2nd, beating out Philippines.

In my post, I tried to be supportive of Voris. Doing a brief web search, I've found most folks are also giving Voris the benefit of the doubt. He made mistakes - he committed sins, but he has repented and confessed his sins in a manner consistant with Catholic teaching.

As we say in the prayer given to us by our Lord, Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespas against us.

Hillary Clinton will become the Democrat nominee, Trump the Republican.

Secretary Clinton has incredibly high "negatives" but will win the election simply because more Americans hate Trump than hate her. 2016 will be the ultimate "hold your nose while you vote" election.

As I write this, I have no idea who Clinton will chose as her VP running mate. I hope he/she is a good one.......the FBI report on her activities will force Congress to impeach Clinton. Not only will Hillary be the first female POTUS, but she will be the first POTUS to have matching impeachments with her former POTUS husband.

Because Hillary was elected on an anti-Trump referendum, there will be little sympathy for her - leastwise not enough to prevent an indictment and impeachment.

My prediction - Hillary will be elected POTUS in 2016, but will not finish her first and only term.

Obviously, Cruz is hoping to stop Trump's momentum. The Senator has no chance, mathematically, of reaching the magical 1237 delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination on a first ballot. His only hope is to prevent Trump from reaching that number himself and perhaps his VP pick will help Cruz pick up delegates in Indiana.

Earlier this year, I wrote that my choice, at the time, would be a Rubio/Fiorina ticket. Obviously, that won't happen, so I suppose a Cruz/Fiorina ticket is the best I can hope for. Personally, I believe Cruz made the right choice. Of course, not everyone agrees with me. I'm probably in a distinct minority.

I enjoy reading Michelle Malkin, but unfortunately, I haven't been following her lately. I suppose that's why it comes as a surprise to me that Malkin doesn't agree with the Fiorina pick. Malikin writes that Fiorina raises 11 red flags.

It was not at all surprising that a Cruz/Fiorina campaign would upset the crazies at Planned Parenthood but to Tweet that Cruz and Fiorina are ".....comin' for your uterus" is a bit over the top.

It was April 11 when we transplanted our butternut squash plants to a section of our property in Magatas,Sibulan. As one can see from the photos, the plants seem to be doing ok, considering that we are still in a drought and the plants have to be watered by hand, so to speak.

The okra seeds are not doing well at all. As I've mentioned, I decided to try a few "tricks" for germinating okra seeds. That experiment was begun nine days ago, but none of the seeds have sprouted.

So far, I'm one for three......the butternut squash is coming along but the okra and tomatoes haven't done anything. Looks like I'll germinate a few more butternut squash seeds. We're making preparations for a piggery and butternut squash should be a good addition to the pigs' diet.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

A photo appeared on Facebook, showing the current U.S. bank notes - from the $1 up to the $100 - with the words,

"Like and share if you think only presidents should be on our money".

Let's be sure to take note that the man on the $10 (Alexander Hamilton) as well as the man on the $100 (Benjamin Franklin) were not Presidents of the United States. If we were to eliminate non-POTUS from U.S. currency, those two would have to go.

The following day, a photo of a $20 with the face of Sitting Bull on it made it's way onto Facebook - along with the words,

Monday, April 25, 2016

MANILA, April 24, 2016 – As the country counts the days before Filipinos head for the polls, the faithful commit to pray the rosary daily for the special intention of the elections, as encouraged by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

“I pray the rosary but only the mystery of today. However given the current situation of the country, we could try following the exhortation of the [archbishop]. After all, it was our Mother Mary who always gave historical breakthroughs for us like in EDSA I,” said youth motivational speaker John Bernard Caasi.

Attesting to the effectiveness of the rosary, youth leader Edwin Valles considers it a “singular grace and privilege” to pray the rosary daily for the intention of the May elections.

Friday, April 22, 2016

In a shocking Vortex video, founder and President of St. Michael's Media and Senior Executive Producer of ChurchMilitant.com, Michael Voris announced that he has "....... on very good authority from various sources that the New York archdiocese is collecting and preparing to quietly filter out details of my past life with the aim of publicly discrediting me, this apostolate and the work here."

Being a fan of Voris and his apostolate, I was aware that, prior to his reversion to the Catholic Church, Voris had led an extremely sinful life. I did not know the nature of his sins, but knew how his mother had prayed for Michael to change and return to the faith of his youth.

In this video, Voris gives details as to the nature of his past sins. He admits, "Whatever the matter, I will now reveal that for most of my years in my thirties, confused about my own sexuality, I lived a life of live-in relationships with homosexual men. From the outside, I lived the lifestyle and contributed to scandal in addition to the sexual sins. On the inside, I was deeply conflicted about all of it. In a large portion of my twenties, I also had frequent sexual liaisons with both adult men and adult women."

Voris appears to be truly sorry for his past sins. No doubt, Voris has confessed his sins and been given absolution long before I ever heard of him or ChurchMilitant. I have no doubt that God has forgiven Voris for his confessed sins and it is not my place to pass further judgement on him.

There have been times when I thought the Vortex had been too extreme. Sometimes he hit the mark and other times he missed it completely. On the whole, however, I believe Voris and ChurchMilitant.com has been a blessing to us. I hope Voris is able to continue his work.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

In a story from April 7, The Guardian had speculated that Pope Francis' trip to the Greek island of Lesbos was to be a show of support for refugees and would be aimed at drawing attention to the front line of Europe’s migration crisis.

As it turns out, the Guardian was right, this time.

The media (including the Catholic blogosphere) loves putting their own spin on everything this Pope says or does and I'm surprised that no one has speculated that Francis' trip to Lesbos was his way of showing support of women priests and same sex so-called "marriage".

Like the LA Times Editorial Board, I find the removal of Andrew Jackson's face from the front of the U.S. Twenty Dollar Bill and replacing it with the face of Harriet Tubman poetic justice. The Democrat President was, like all Democrat Presidents prior to the American Civil War, opposed to the abolition of slavery in the United States. Born into slavery, Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist, humanitarian, and a Union spy during the American Civil War.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

When a "Red" State attempts to eliminate voter fraud by passing laws that require citizens to have proper IDs in order to register to vote, Democrats accuse the Republicans of trying to disenfranchise Democrat-leaning voters.

Calling reports of voting irregularities in New York state "a disgrace", Bernie Sanders said, "It is absurd that in Brooklyn, New York -- where I was born, actually -- tens of thousands of people as I understand it, have been purged from the voting rolls."

In my recent post on okra, I mentioned my problems getting okra seeds to germinate and how I had come across a website which recommended two "tricks" for sprouting okra -

1) Some people soak the seeds in warm water for 24 hours.
2) To get them to germinate faster, place your okra seeds in the freezer overnight.

I was skeptical, but willing to give both methods a try. I soaked a few seeds in water and put a few in a sandwich bag which I've popped into the freezer.

This morning, I put both sets of seeds into soil. The larger plastic container shown in the photo contains the frozen seeds; the two smaller containers hold the pre-soaked seeds. I'm still holding on to the original okra seed containers in order to compare all three methods to see if there is any significant difference between the three.

I'll continue to photograph and monitor the progress.....you know, all scientific like.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Twelve days ago, I gave up on the tomato seeds that had failed to sprout. I don't understand why the tomatoes wouldn't germinate, but I suspect that there may be something about the climate here that is not conducive to the growing of tomato plants. After all, I have yet to see really nice looking tomatoes here in any market or grocery. My wife says large, juicy tomatoes are available, but you can't prove that by me.

In place of the tomato seeds, I attempted to sprout okra seeds. I was a bit more hopeful about the okra. I know that okra grows here. My wife's father has okra growing in his garden.

Sadly, my okra isn't doing so well. It's been twelve days and none of the seeds have germinated.

I've just done a web search on sprouting okra and came upon this page at garden.org. The site lists a couple of "tricks" to getting okra seeds to germinate.
1) Some people soak the seeds in warm water for 24 hours.
2) To get them to germinate faster, place your okra seeds in the freezer overnight.

I can see the first trick working........but putting the seeds in the freezer? There is some disagreement as to the geographical origin of okra, but whether okra originally came from West Africa or South Asian, those aren't places usually associated with any freezing temperatures. If, like tulip bulbs, okra seeds need a period of frost in order to grow, okra would never have prospered in West Africa or South Asian. I'm sure my wife's father has never put his okra seeds in the freezer.

Never the less, I'm going to give both methods a try. I'm soaking a few seeds and I've put a few in a (blue) sandwich bag which I've popped into the freezer.

I saw no point in posting a photo of the ungerminated okra seeds; they look pretty much like ungerminated tomato seeds. Instead, I've posted the okra seeds in their (blue) sandwich bag. Needless to say, I'll post updates.

In a number of earlier posts, I've mentioned the drought currently ravaging many areas of the Philippines. In the province where we live, Negros Oriental, April is typically the driest month of the year. This month has been especially dry, thanks to El Niño, which many are saying is being made worse by the increase in global temperatures.

This past Sunday, Apr 17, 2016 (Fourth Sunday of Easter) was Good Shepherd Sunday. Many of the priest's remarks dealt with our responsibility to be "good shepherds" by taking care of the environment. A final prayer after Mass focused on our failure to take care of the home God has given us. It was stated that the prayer came from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Unfortunately, I've been unable to find a copy of the prayer. Part of the prayer made reference to mankind disobeying God by cutting down trees. I was shaking my head at that. Over cutting of trees and deforestation is sinful, but there should have been a distinction made between deforestation and the proper use of lumber.

In another section of the prayer, it was stated that El Niño was brought on by human activity. I'll admit that El Niño could be worsened by Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW), but El Niño is a natural phenomenon. It isn't productive to exaggerate mankind's involvement in the creation of El Niño.

“United as Your children, we come to You, pleading,Shower us with rain, provide us with water that we need.Father, Your children are begging to survive,Hear us, we desire to live.”

“Prolonged drought is depriving us of the fruits of our toil;Low water supply means hunger and thirst for most of us;El Niño continues to threaten our relationship with one another.O Lord, this is a very hostile phenomenon that we beg for You to end.”

“At this time of looming catastrophe, dear Lord, dwell in our hearts.Teach us to be more generous; bring out the best in us;Turn our eyes and ears toward the needs of others, especially the poor.Move us to share more, care more, serve more and love more.”

“Holy God, You sanctify this earth to be our sacred abode.Grant us courage to take in hand the sufferings of the environment;Grant us might to save and protect the beauty of nature.Grant us wisdom to restore whatever we have destroyed.”

Yesterday, I came across a story about Ms Lewinsky which makes me regret ever having made any sort of online joke concerning her. The article. Monica Lewinsky: 'The shame sticks to you like tar' shows what an ass I was to take cheap shots at Ms Lewinsky. Her life has been Hell since her days with the former POTUS and I regret anything I may have done that may have added to the 'shaming'.

With Hillary Clinton running for President, Ms Lewinsky is bound to be in the news again. Clinton's opponents will do anything to embarrass Clinton and her husband. Lewinsky's name will be dragged through the mud again this election cycle. It might even get worse for her if Clinton is elected.

Saturday, April 16, 2016

"Students might be more inclined to read what academics want them to if our curricula weren’t overwhelmingly white, male and indicative of a society and structures we fundamentally disagree with because they don't work for us."

Having read Sanders' speech, I have to say that there is little, if anything, that I can disagree with Sanders on in his speech. There are areas where his worldview actually aligns (in a limited way) with Catholic teaching.

Sanders says:

"In the year 2016, the top one percent of the people on this planet own more wealth than the bottom 99 percent, while the wealthiest 60 people – 60 people – own more than the bottom half – 3 1/2 billion people. At a time when so few have so much, and so many have so little, we must reject the foundations of this contemporary economy as immoral and unsustainable."

Sanders misses the mark in many areas, however. The encyclical, which the conference was commemorating, was itself, a commemoration of Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum. In Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII praises private property and condemns Socialism.

There may be ideas in Centesimus Annus which are appealing to Bernie Sanders, but he ignores one in particular:

"Now, as then, we need to repeat that there can be no genuine solution of the 'social question' apart from the Gospel, and that the 'new things' can find in the Gospel the context for their correct understanding and the proper moral perspective for judgment on them."

I don't have the answer as to how we eliminate poverty and income inequality. I'm sure it can't be achieved without some governmental intervention. The question is how much governmental intervention is necessary and at what point does governmental intervention make the situation worse?

Thursday, April 14, 2016

It had never been my intention, when arriving in the Dumaguete area two years ago, of ever driving an automobile in this city. I don't drive a motorcycle, and I was content to make my way about Dumaguete by way of easyride or tricycle.

My only reason for obtaining a Philippine driver's license was because I wanted to have a local ID. Some things are easier when you use a Philippine ID instead of a U.S. passport.

When I applied for the license, I was told I could have simply converted my Georgia license to a Philippine license, had the GA license not expired. Because my license had expired, I had to take the written test, in addition to the drug test and biometrics. It was this written test that lead me to believe that there were traffic regulations in Philippines. I can't speak to other parts of the country following the traffic laws, but I can say without fear of contradiction, that whatever traffic laws there are, none are enforced in Dumaguete city.

Rumor has it that helmets are required for motorcyclists and their passengers. If you see a helmeted cyclist, you can bet it's a foreigner. Not every foreigner wears a helmet, but the percentage is much, much higher than the percentage of Filipinos wearing a helmet when riding a motorcycle. I don't have an exact figure, but I seriously doubt if 1% of the folks in Dumaguete wear a helmet.

In Sept. or Oct. we purchased a car. As I said, it had not been my original intention to drive a car, but it was raining quite a bit at that time and it was difficult for my wife to take our son to school on her motorcycle in the rain. I wrote in an earlier post that the current drought is being blamed on El Niño -made worse by rising global temperatures. I'm blaming the current drought on our decision to buy a car. We bought it because of the rain and it probably hasn't rained five times in the several months since we got the car.

At certain times of the day, there are places in the city where only a masochist would voluntarily drive. Driving downtown around lunch time is stupidity. Cars, motorcycles, easyrides and tricycles push bumper to bumper. There are no stop signs or traffic lights anywhere in this city of 121,000 people. Rome, GA., where I called home before coming to Dumaguete, has a population of about 36,000 and more than a few traffic lights. Driving in a city this size without traffic lights is worse than you can imagine.

When arriving at an intersection, it's the one with the biggest cojones who has the right of way. If you can force your way through, you have it. Some intersections will have traffic cops during rush hours, but they're as useless as tits on a bull. If you decide to disobey his signals, well, I don't imagine he has much power to do anything about it.

Someone in the U.S. once asked me which side of the road you drive on in Philippines. In Dumaguete, it's any @#^%&a; side you want. If the vehicle is going too slow to suit you, you pass on either side. If there's oncoming traffic, they're obliged to slow down or pull aside to let you have your way.

Driving at night? Don't do it. As bad as daytime driving is, it's nothing compared to driving at night. Motorcyclists will drive on the wrong side of the road.....without their #$%@* headlights on !!!!! What sort of idiot drives at night without headlights?

"Because I don't live here year round, I can look on all of this as a romantic,exotic adventure. I don't know if I'd have the same high regard for this sort of transportation if Dumaguete was my permanent address."

No truer words were ever written.

Oh, yeah. One last word. I used the above photo in a post from 2007. This time, I changed the coloring from RGB to Grayscale. I hadn't noticed, until now, the sign above the vehicle parked on the right.

First, let me state the obvious.Bernie Sanders and Pope Francis are worlds apart on the issues of abortion and same sex so-called "marriage". There's no point in even going there.

Folks like Parker and Budowsky want to put the two together because both speak out on matters of economic equality, social justice, combating poverty and human rights. Earth to Parker and Budowsky: Sanders and the Pope may agree on the problems, but not the solutions.

"A system of social and economic organization that would substitute state monopoly for private ownership of the sources of production and means of distribution, and would concentrate under the control of the secular governing authority the chief activities of human life. The term is often used vaguely to indicate any increase of collective control over individual action, or even any revolt of the dispossessed against the rule of the possessing classes. But these are undue extensions of the term, leading to much confusion of thought. State control and even state ownership are not necessarily Socialism: they become so only when they result in or tend towards the prohibition of private ownership not only of "natural monopolies", but also of all the sources of wealth. Nor is mere revolt against economic inequality Socialism: it may be Anarchism (see ANARCHY); it may be mere Utopianism (see COMMUNISM); it may be a just resistance to oppression. Nor is it merely a proposal to make such economic changes in the social structure as would banish poverty. Socialism is this (see COLLECTIVISM) and much more. It is also a philosophy of social life and action, regarding all human activities from a definite economic standpoint. Moreover modern Socialism is not a mere arbitrary exercise at state-building, but a deliberate attempt to relieve, on explicit principles, the existing social conditions, which are regarded as intolerable. The great inequalities of human life and opportunity, produced by the excessive concentration of wealth in the hands of a comparatively small section of the community, have been the cause and still are the stimulus of what is called the Socialistic movement. But, in order to understand fully what Socialism is and what it implies, it is necessary first to glance at the history of the movement, then to examine its philosophical and religious tendencies, and finally to consider how far these may be, and actually have proved to be, incompatible with Christian thought and life."

True Socialism calls for the abolition of private property, and is in opposition to the teachings of the Church.

Sanders isn't a religious Holy Man because he is against oppression, poverty and inequality. We are all against those things. It's the methods and solutions Sanders presents that are questionable. More government control is not the answer and I don't believe I've heard Pope Francis call for that.

Now, going along those same lines, Bret Stephens has written in the Wall Street Journal that Trump Is Obama Squared: "Two epic narcissists who see themselves as singularly suited to redeem America".

As much as I would love to say otherwise, Stephens has done a much better job of explaining the point I was attempting to get across in my very modest way.

He does point out their differences.

"Donald Trump is Barack Obama squared. Not as a matter of rhetorical style, where the president is glib and grammatical, while the developer is rambling and coarse. Not as a matter of economic instincts, where Mr. Obama is a social democrat while Mr. Trump is a mercantilist.
And not as a matter of temperament. Mr. Obama is aloof and calculated. Mr. Trump loves to get in your face."

He goes on to explore the similarities of the two "epic narcissists".

"Both men see themselves not as politicians but as movement leaders. Both are prone to telling fairy tales about their lives and careers.
And both believe they are better than everyone else."

Oddly enough, Wikipedia compiled a list of cults of personality because it is a phenomenon that has taken place in several countries in the world. There are quite a few countries on the list, but no Wikipedia editor has had the cojones to list the United States, Barack Obama, or Donald Trump.

In China,the photos of her appearing on subway and bus stations with the mask on her face taken by passersby have gone viral on social media.

"Since she didn't have time to take care of herself at night, she came up with the idea of using the facial mask on her way to work. She said she never thought her decision will grab so much attention".

Earlier today, our water was cut off temporarily because of work being done at the bridge site. The water is back on, but the outage prompted me to walk to the bridge to check the progress, or lack there of, regarding the repairs. The men were all busy working at that time, but when I returned later with my camera, there was no one about.

It was between noon and one o'clock when I returned with the camera, so they may have been at lunch. Then again, as I mentioned in my post from this morning, the temperature is expected to reach a high of 34 Celsius with a "RealFeel" of 45. Perhaps the powers that be are sympathetic to the workers and will not work them in such temperatures. After all, only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun.

You can be sure of one thing, if they are allowed a siesta, it's not with pay.

As I've noted before, we are experiencing a drought. This is normally a dry season in Negros Oriental, but it's being made worse by an El Niño which some are saying is being made worse by climate change.

As one can see by the screenshot, today's high will be 34 with a "RealFeel" of 45. For my American friends.....that's Celsius not Fahrenheit. In Fahrenheit that would be 93.2 and 113.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

I brought along the Canon; J.P. took photos of me and I took photos of him. The store owner took two photos of J.P. and I together.

I have a USB thingamajig which holds the memory card of my Canon which allows me to download the photos onto my PC. There, I'll edit the photos and store them away. After the photos are transfered, I'll delete the folder from the camera. That's where the problem arose this morning.

I guess it comes down to dust. When we were in the U.S., I would regularly purchase canned air from Wally World and blow out the PC. I haven't done such a good job of that since arriving in Philippines. The cans of compressed air are difficult to find and are very expensive when you do find them. As a consequence, I've allowed the dust to build up more than I should.

Dust has accumulated inside the USB terminals. I'm not connected via cable or wire to the Internet - I use another USB thingamajig to connect via wifi. When I connect my camera's USB thingamajig to transfer the photos, somehow this additional USB device will cause the wifi USB to disconnect from the Internet. It doesn't happen every time, but often enough.

I've often suspected that the problem is due to the dust build up.

After transfering this morning's gym photos to the PC, I did a wee bit of image scaling with GIMP and set about to upload a few of the photos to Facebook. You know where this is headed. I had lost Internet connection. This reoccuring problem is fixed by removing the camera USB and rebooting the PC. That's when the spooks attacked the PC.

The PC would not restart. I was getting a message that a start up repair was required. Unfortunately, when doing this, the system created a restore point which was before this morning's photos were put onto the PC. So, when the PC finally started, the photos had disappeared. As far as Windows was concerned, the photos had never been on my PC.

I had deleted the photos earlier from the camera's memory card and now it was as if the photos had never existed. Gone.

After this disaster, I decided that enough was enough. I unplugged everything from the PC and carried it to a computer repair place in Sibulan where they used a small air compressor to blow out the dust. The dust looked thick on top of the PC innards, but I was really surprised at the amount that was blown out.

Total cost: 150 peso (roughly three bucks and change). That's a lot cheaper than the elusive cans of air - when they can be found. I'll definitely be going back regularly.

When I plugged everything back in and rebooted the PC, there was another sytem restore point message. This time, when the PC restarted, the gym photos had magically returned.

I'm not at all certain that the plants will survive. We are currently experiencing a drought in Philippines and it maybe too much for the squash to survive. There is a natural spring nearby and water can be toted to the plants......but I'm still doubtful.